Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

I was hoping it would turn out exactly like this. It was already clear from the trailers that the new Jumanji is not a very ambitious project, and that it would be ideal if it turned out to be a good two hours of fun. And that's pretty much what it did. Four classmates are transported into the world of the video game Jumanji, each taking on their own avatar and having to somehow make it to the end and survive. Of course, the whole thing stands and falls on the fact that the nerd looks like Dwayne Johnson and the self-centered beauty finds herself in the body of Jack Black. But it's actually quite enough. The quartet of stars are all tuned into the same wave, Kevin Hart only has his third role so he doesn't get to be overly annoying, and Jack Black is downright hilarious. There's just enough action, just enough humour and just the right amount of adventure to keep the 119 minutes running smoothly and still manage to learn some lessons. I don't expect to remember anything from the film in a few weeks, but I really enjoyed the two hours. Despite the visual effects, which are very sad to look at at times. (07/27/2018)

An understandable generational upgrade of a classic for today's degenerate audience. Noisier, more digital, more spectacular, but also lacking in childlike charm and family values. Definitely cool fun for millennials with likeable jokes and big names in the cast that certainly don't make a disgrace. We older folks would rather watch the original from the 1990s, as this remake evaporates from our minds during the screening. (04/24/2018)

Okay, I wasn't expecting it, but surprisingly it was quite good. It was brisk, entertaining here and there, and well-paced from start to finish. I didn't even think the acting was bad, on the contrary everyone did a decent job. As a relaxing, no-frills follow-up to the 1995 film, it accomplishes what it's supposed to. A strong 3 stars. (12/15/2019)

There actually isn’t anything truly bad about the movie. The actors are pretty okay, the locations are also quite solid, here and there the action has nice ideas, which, when it comes to Hollywood, is quite a miracle. I just don’t know if I am getting old and prefer older movies that are more authentic, entertaining and the actors are a few notches better. Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart are pulling the comedic aspect of the movie as hard as they can. They also nicely twisted the premise for the new version of Jumanji so you don’t get the same movie in a different shade of blue. I just cannot shake the impression that in the past similar movies were better. And no, I don’t want to complain that the grass was greener then, but I don’t know if I am onto something and if I am not aging together with the movies. (09/20/2018)

I do not like to rate movies on the basis of comparison, but it can not be any other way with such calculated unoriginal remakes. The original Jumanji from the 1990s had, in addition to well-developed characters played by great actors, another great advantage, because the whole magical adventure stemmed from the conflict of these characters with horrific scenes emerging from a board game in the real world. In addition, it worked very well on both comedic and dramatic levels, and even had a naturally evolved villain, created by the tumultuous relationship between father and son. As for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, in short, well it is lacking all these things. The story has been updated and changed to a video game console, thus losing its magic, because in a video game, anything could happen really, and so the shock-value is lost. The plot is completely random, practically only going from point A to point B, and there is no room for a more powerful storyline, and the villain (Cannavale), is only an unnecessary obligatory device that could be completely omitted. The humor only comes from the basic premise of a weak nerd who finds himself inside an avatar of a muscle-man, a bimbo Barbie doll inside the avatar of a fat academic, etc. Actually, this is a terribly lazily designed remake. The only added value of the new Jumanji is that after watching it, perhaps more viewers will appreciate the original version with Robin Williams. (12/04/2019)